


The Cure

by 19_empty_vacancies



Category: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst with a Happy Ending, BLACKWING - Freeform, M/M, Season/Series 02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-18
Updated: 2018-08-18
Packaged: 2019-06-29 03:05:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15720696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/19_empty_vacancies/pseuds/19_empty_vacancies
Summary: Old legends and wives tales flitting about his mind of heart songs and connecting souls. Far fetched as the notion seems, it doesn’t fail to bring a smile to his lips whenever he feels their search will be for nothing.





	The Cure

The words get nudged to him without any rhyme or reason. There’s no organization, no build up as to why he’s being haunted by these aching words. They cause his chest to tighten and his head to pound in ways that have nothing to do with the day’s experiments and electrocutions. Dirk wonders if they’re haunting his thoughts because it was one of the few songs he learnt when he first escaped or because they were whispered unthinkingly as coffee was prepared in a very green kitchen.

Nevertheless, the words, when they make their presence known, cause a full body shiver as Dirk curls up on his side, hip and shoulder making noise at the uncomfortable thin mattress. Back to the cell door, eyes clouding over with unshed tears, Dirk’s mind will wander as the soft melody accompanying the words will drift through, always inevitably drawn to a set of unnaturally blue eyes and quirked smiles.

He’s beginning to lose count on how long he’s been trapped inside Blackwing, that final pleasant moment at the diner beginning to grab the haze of a distant memory that’s been pulled out and looked at many times, blurred from repetitive touching and cradling when painful memories begin to crowd in and cover over. The sense of warmth, of shoulders and legs brushing, drinks shared and the softest shirt he’s ever worn are beginning to be replaced by sharp stinging pain and bone deep aches.

But then the words appear, shoved to him the same way as all his hunches, guiding him back to those memories and in those moments, Dirk has hope for the future, for escaping, for reuniting.

_You make me feel like I am free again._

* * *

Curled tightly into the back seat of the car, eyes squeezed tightly shut, the last vestiges of his attack wear off. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Todd registers that it is somewhere is the uncomfortably early hours of the morning and that Farah is still breathing deeply in the front seat.

Slowly, oh so slowly, his heartbeat returns to a steady rhythm and his chest unclenches the tight fist which had gripped at his lungs and throat. The shaking in his limbs hovers for a handful of seconds before leaving and finally his body relaxes from its balled-up state.

Stretching as far as the doors allow, Todd wriggles onto his back to watch the stained roof and the dark shadows unbroken by the cool blue light of the moon. It’s as he reaches up to trace the AT-AT shaped stain that the words drift through his mind unwittingly, the same as every time before. The same way any song does when getting stuck inside your head; one second there’s nothing and then suddenly it’s mid-way through the lyrics.

Smiling softly, he hums the tune as fingers trace the air below the stain, mind drifting to his mission of finding Dirk, of getting him in his grasp and keeping him there, safe and sound. Realistically he knows that they’re nearing two months with absolutely no signs; but he keeps feeling nudges in directions he or Farah would never have thought of and he knows they must be getting close. That the universe is helping him on his mission; no matter the fact that it’s taking what feels like a lifetime to reach the man he’d only known a handful of days but couldn’t bare the idea of living without.

Arm dropping back to rest on his stomach, Todd sighs and closes his eyes. Some buried deep part of him wonders if the reason the words have been appearing in his head more regularly is because he’s getting close, closer. Old legends and wives tales flitting about his mind of heart songs and connecting souls. Far fetched as the notion seems, it doesn’t fail to bring a smile to his lips whenever he feels their search will be for nothing.  

As his breathing deepens and his mind drifts off, the words remain, lulling him to sleep.

_You make me feel like I am whole again._

* * *

When they reunite it’s like the air crackled for a moment and electricity bounced between them as they gripped each other tightly.

Then comes the case and the fear of Dirk being torn away again. They live through their adventures to the alternate reality, only just barely, and finally there appears to be a time to rest. A time to collectively catch their breath as it sinks in that Dirk is back, he’s here in one piece and he’s safe by Todd’s side.

A detective agency is opened with an official plaque and their group stretches to include Mona and Tina and Hobbs. They take on cases, they live.

They still hear the song.

It’s in the tapping of fingers against counters and a mindlessly hummed tune. Silently mouthed to work forms and sung in showers, strummed languidly on worn guitar strings and while tea is brewing. Seen and heard, but never at the same time, never when they’re together to witness.

* * *

It’s dark in the apartment’s living room, street lights filtering through windows and throwing wild shapes and shadows across the faces of the room’s occupants. There has been an unspoken agreement between them since reuniting to stay near each other, to be within distance for fear they may disappear altogether.

Dirk’s heart had felt like it was about to evacuate his chest when he woke from his nightmare and it hadn’t taken him any thought to climb off the couch and cross the room to drop onto Todd. Not onto the mattress beside him but on Todd himself. He needed to feel that he was real, needed to ground himself in what was physically there, living and breathing and giving off so much warmth.

Confused grumbles made way for arms pulling him closer and awkward wriggling to get under the covers before they settled once more, Dirk stretched across Todd where he could actively hear his heart beating and lungs fill and deflate. Sleep clumsy hands rubbed up his back and into his hair while Todd incoherently babbled of them being safe and that he was okay.

The words appeared softly as Dirk’s lids grew heavy, the call of sleep beginning to draw him under once more when it occurred to him that the words were buzzing somehow, vibrating and slightly louder than he’d ever heard. Confusion bubbled until it hit that the thing vibrating was Todd. The words were coming from Todd.

Todd was singing his words softly as he ran fingers through Dirk’s hair.

Dirk tried to form a coherent “You hear it too?” but judging by Todd’s questioning hum, he didn’t achieve it. Shifting to rest his chin against Todd’s chest, he looked into those unnaturally blue eyes, grey in the low light and repeated himself.

Continuing to pet Dirk’s hair, Todd nodded, “Yeah I hear it too.”

“What is it?”

“A song by The Cure?”

“I am _well_ aware of that, Todd. But we both hear it, what is _it_?”

He watched Todd’s face scrunch up, trying to piece together thoughts in a sleep addled mind. “Think it might be a heart song, something that links two people or something, I’m not sure. But I know I never want to not hear it if it means something’s happened to you.”

“Links two people?”

Todd nodded, “Two people hear the same song when they’re meant to be connected. Or something along those lines, it’s been a long time since I heard the stories. Don’t know if the number changes or not, some people are in relationships with more than one person, so it stands to reason.”

It was like Dirk heard a click in his head and _oh_ , solved it.

* * *

When Todd sings the words the next time, it’s on the way to a case and because the song is playing on the radio. Dirk hides his smile in his shoulder when he sees Todd look at him for a moment as he sings the chorus before turning back to the road.

When the song is nearing its end, Dirk sings along as well. His and Todd’s voices coiling around each other to create the perfect melody.

 

_However far away,_

_I will always love you._

_However long I stay,_

_I will always love you._

_Whatever words I say,_

_I will always love you,_

_I will always love you._

 


End file.
